Cabin in the Woods: Review
Cabin in the Woods is a film made for horror movie fans. It takes what is a generic setup that audiences have seen time and time again (Cabin Fever, The Evil Dead, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Friday the 13th) and molds it into something new and fresh. Honestly I am not a big fan of the horror genre, (of course there are horror movies that I like) and I often wait until they hit home video before I see them. Due to the talent behind Cabin in the Woods and thanks to the very positive buzz surrounding the movie leading up to its release my interest was piqued, so I decided to check it out opening weekend. In this review I am going to do my best to stay away from the movie’s plot and story so that I don’t spoil the movie for anyone, as this is a film going experience that will benefit from knowing as little as possible going in.
Writer Joss Whedon (Serenity, and the upcoming The Avengers) and co-writer/director Drew Goddard (writer for Cloverfield, and TV’s Lost) have created a unique and fun horror movie experience. Cabin in the Woods starts off like many other horror movies, as a group of young people head off into a remote location where we know that bad things will happen to them, however right off the bat we are made aware that something else is going on (and if you are paying close attention to early dialogue and images you can figure it out, or at least come up with good guess). Often when I go into a movie where I know that there will be some sort of twist I am able to follow the clues and figure out what is going on early in the movie, and it diminished my enjoyment of the movie (The Village, Shutter Island). Thankfully that was not the case here with this movie as there are so many twists and turns in this film that there is no way you will see them all coming. Even if you did manage to figure things out the movie is such a fun ride that I don’t think it will really matter.
Fans of Joss Whedon’s writing style won’t be disappointed by Cabin in the Woods. The script that he wrote along with director Drew Goddard is fun, scary, creative, and filled with entertaining characters and dialogue. Both the humor and the horror elements of the movie work well, and the audience that I saw the movie with, responded to the movie laughing at the jokes and screaming at the scares throughout the movie.
Cabin in the Woods is a movie that was made for horror movie fans and should be a must see for them. Even if you are like me, and you are not typically a horror fan I think that you will probably still find something to like about this movie. If you don’t get to see it in theaters, then I recommend that you at least give it a look once it comes to home video.
Cabin in the Woods gets 4 out of 5 Popcorn Buckets.
